Tuesday, April 29, 2014

By looking through the content of this blog, you will find extensive
writings on battery development going back several
years.

Almost all of the projects that I have written about to date have come to
naught. So much hype and so many of the breakthroughs and inventions have proved to be
nothing more than mist in the morning air, that I decided to stop
covering news of these so-called battery breakthroughs.

On Batteries Thomas
Edison in 1883 says it all:

I will let Edison say what I, and many others think:

"The storage
battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for
swindling the public by stock companies. The storage battery is one
of those peculiar things which appeals to the imagination, and no
more perfect thing could be desired by stock swindlers than that very
selfsame thing. ... Just as soon as a man gets working on the
secondary battery it brings out his latent capacity for lying."

So why am I writing
about battery breakthroughs again? Because a brand new super
material, almost magical in its qualities, is becoming readily available. This new super material is
Graphene.

Go make some in your kitchen:

Crann Research Centre Dublin Ireland

(Crann meaning Tree in Irish and pronounced - crown)

Major breakthrough in graphene production techniques in Dublin Ireland Crann research centre.

(My interpretation) Take the leads from some nice soft 4b pencils and crush them into a fine powder. Add some water and "Fairy Liquid" dish washer fluid. Place in a blender and set to high. Then blend for 30 minutes or longer. You will have some graphene in the blender.

Not that you will be able to identify it or use it, unless you have some really high-tech equipment and a fair bit of scientific knowledge.

The outcome is that graphene will become many times less expensive to produce, and large quantities can quickly become available.

One of the Graphene

based Developments

Lithium - Graphene -
battery breakthrough?

The word is out in the
news agencies that there are several new batteries currently in development. One in particular is at a testing stage and appears to hold a
promise of being able to hold twice as much as the best current
batteries can hold and thus be able to power an electric vehicle for
more than 480 Km about 300 miles before recharging. The defining name
of this new battery is Lithium Sulphur Graphene.

Current lithium ion
batteries achieve 200 Wh/kg. The century plus old lead acid type battery
can hold about 40 Wh/kg. Another key factor is how the battery performs
as it goes through cycles of charging and discharging, and for an
electric car you would want more than 1,000 cycles without serious
deterioration. It's also good if the batteries don't catch fire when
being charged!

Recent breakthroughs.

One battery that showed
some promise was the lithium sulphur battery. This battery started
life as one of several modifications of the common lithium ion
battery. The development was soon shelved because the chemical
process rapidly deteriorated after only 15 to 20 charge cycles.

Now add some Graphene

Very recently a
research team at the Lawrence Berkeley Labs California found what was
causing the breakdown in the Lithium Sulphur cells, and were able to
add a graphene based layer to prevent the deterioration. They also
adopted a different electrolyte and modified the cathode of the
cells.

This resulted in a
re-born battery which has more than double the capacity of a standard
Li ion battery. Tests to date have shown that it can achieve in
excess of 1,500 charge cycles without deterioration.

Will this battery make
it to the shops for Christmas, or join the ranks of the dozens of
others in semi-permanent development?
Who knows. But with the Fairy Dust of Graphene in the frame - who
knows what might emerge.

Another Graphene Energy Development

The Super Capacitor is another very exciting energy storage device. Up till now, it has not made any quantum leaps in its evolution. But with out new super material Graphene becoming available in many new forms and in quantity, this exciting storage device will also take a big dive forward.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

"The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens" - "Let your vision be world embracing".

"Only a comprehensive vision of a global society,
supported by universal values and principles, can inspire individuals
to take responsibility for the long-term care and protection of the
natural environment."

Our planet is a fragile beautiful thing - we have raped it over and over through our greed and ignorance. If we are to preserve it, we need a new way of looking at our planet and at humanity.

We need to see natures laws of co-operation and reciprocity fully functional in society. We need our institutions, our legal systems, our governments, our financial and business systems to function on principles of trustworthiness, equity, truthfulness, and cooperation, instead of the aggressive, adversarial, and greed driven present day systems.

Perhaps we first need to glimpse hell - in order to be properly motivated?

Monday, April 21, 2014

Graphene is nothing short of a magical material in terms of it's physical and electrical characteristics.

It is the strongest material known - it is the best electrical conductor known etc. etc. It promises to totally change electronics design and manufacture, and the same for many other technologies.

Graphene was invented / discovered using ordinary sticky tape to separate out the layers of graphene in a piece of graphite - the same stuff in the middle of your pencil.

But there were difficulties in making it. Huge technical problems existed in trying to produce industrial quantities of Graphene - that is until NOW.

Graphene Recipe

Take some fine graphite powder, add some Fairy Liquid, and I presume some water, and stick it in your kitchen blender. Blend for one hour - and hope the blender doesn't burn out. You will have some graphene in your blender - WOW.

Sounds too easy to be true. It is true go and check the news items. The clever people who came on the method say it is fairly simple to scale it up to industrial size and produce large quantities of the magic material at very low cost.

Ireland the Leader in Graphene development

I am very proud that Ireland is taking a major role in this amazing material science. Good on you guys at Trinity. I hope the development phase is rapid and highly successful.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Some years ago I published a blog praising Airtricity for its efforts in moving towards wind energy, as the business name strongly suggests. I was a customer for some time and I then moved to Board Gais for a better deal.

I was with Bord Gais for approximately 15 months when an Airtricity representative called to my door offering 16% discount on that standard rate for domestic electricity. This sounded very good indeed. I was assured by the rep that it was the best deal available, even though there was a slightly higher standing charge, so I went for it.

What was not made completely clear to me at the time was - just how much an impact the higher standing charge could and would make on the unit cost of my electricity.

Let me explain that statement. I have seriously reduced my electricity usage over the last several years.

(1) I have installed LED and CFL lighting throughout my house.
(2) I have switched to solid fuel heating on a 24/7 basis, this means I no longer use an immersion heater for hot water, and also means less electricity running an oil boiler.
(3) I have increased the insulation level of the house.
(4) I have bought a low power TV set using the latest LED technology.
(5) I use gas cooking for the most part.

These factors mean I now have a very small electricity usage. This in turn means that the 16% Airtricity discount deal was seriously eroded by the added extra standing charge because the extra cost involved was divided over fewer units of electricity.

The end result is that the deal is no where as sweet as I was led to believe.

Prospective Airtricity customers should be wary of the pricing structure, and especially they not listen to their spin-doctors and sales people.

Reason TWO:

BEWARE of your Energy or Phone company, because in many cases, their ethics don't always match the image their spin-doctors and advertising agencies would have you believe.

When it comes to ethics, I have discovered a major BLACK HOLE. It is situated in the area of accumulated credits. At the end of a contract period when you leave to get, what you hope is, a better deal elsewhere, you will terminate with the current company and move over. What do you leave behind you ? ? ? ?

My Catholic background taught me there were basically two types of sin. (1) Sins of commission, i.e. actively lying etc. and (2) Sins of omission, not fulfilling your moral duty, not paying back a debs, not stepping up to the line to tell the full truth.

Dirty Tricks Departments employ Sins of Omission

To get the best deal with Airtricity several years ago I signed up for a budget-plan and for on-line billing. The budget plan took a fixed amount each month from my bank account which went to build up a credit against my next bill.

Because I was using less and less electricity due to my Energy Efficiency drives, I had a fairly major credit at the end of my contract. The amount was in excess of €99.00.

The money was only resting in my account - Dougal.

I was unaware of this sum of my money "resting in Airtricity's account" Not until I very recently went back to them did I discover - by accident - that they held my money.

They held almost €100 of my money for some 15 months.

They made no attempt to return my money.

They made no attempt to properly notify me the money was there in the first place.

Did Airtricity lie to me - no - they didn't actually lie - but they certainly were not moral or ethical in the way they acted.

Final Insult,

I got very angry with Airtricity for holding onto my money resting in their account and making interest for them. When I asked for my money back - Airtricity took weeks to get a cheque to me. They dragged their feet and held onto my money like a drowning man to a straw.

WARNING

If you have a similar situation to me with Airtricity or any other Power or Phone company double check and treble check to make sure they are not holding credit belonging to you. If you have any influence with law makers, please lobby to have the law change so mean and nasty companies cannot get away with holding onto peoples money.

About Me

For several years I wrote a Blog on SUSTAINABLE ENERGY. The term now has a new meaning for me. It stands for the maintenance of heat in low income homes. I have recently started this new Blog called Stretching Income in which I hope to share ideas that may help make small incomes go that bit further. The themes will cover: (1) Savvy Shopping, (2) Careful Cookery, (3) Economic Energy, among others.
I am not writing as an advisor and cannot offer advice other than my own experience and some passed on experiences. Comments are welcome but please do not expect a reply, as this is beyond my remit.